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Dead Men Are Easy to Love
Question: What do Clark Gable, Ernest Hemingway, and Vincent Van Gogh all have in common, besides being famous and dead?
Answer: They all loved Ariel Richards, a modern day time-traveling woman who visited with each of them in the past, and inspired some of the greatest works of their times.
For Ariel Richards, is there any future in the past?
One thing is for certain: She thinks dead men are much easier to love than living ones!
Ariel has bad luck with love. But her present dating woes are only the beginning. Soon she finds herself making mysterious visits to the past, brushing shoulders--and much more--with some of the most famous men, and bad boys, from history . . . Ernest Hemingway, Clark Gable, Beethoven, Dracula, Van Gogh, Butch Cassidy, and others. Will she find lasting romance with any one of them, or will it die before she can find hope for her future?
Answer: They all loved Ariel Richards, a modern day time-traveling woman who visited with each of them in the past, and inspired some of the greatest works of their times.
For Ariel Richards, is there any future in the past?
One thing is for certain: She thinks dead men are much easier to love than living ones!
Ariel has bad luck with love. But her present dating woes are only the beginning. Soon she finds herself making mysterious visits to the past, brushing shoulders--and much more--with some of the most famous men, and bad boys, from history . . . Ernest Hemingway, Clark Gable, Beethoven, Dracula, Van Gogh, Butch Cassidy, and others. Will she find lasting romance with any one of them, or will it die before she can find hope for her future?
173 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 10, 2012
2 people are currently reading
161 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 15, 2012
This book is breezy, sometimes funny, lacking depth, and thankfully short. Dead Men Are Easy To Love is a somewhat Sex In The City wannabe, borrowing the tone, journaling technique, and bit-sized love tryst formula from that show. In what was a promising premise and good start, it failed to find its own voice. Ariel Roberts finds no joy in the men she dates and finds little joy with life. Quite frankly, I'd run screaming away from her and her negative energy in realty. She lives pretty high on the hog for a constantly broke freelance journalist in New York City when a gypsy gives her a crystal, allowing Ariel to inadvertently time-travel and date the dreamy dead men in their prime while she looks for love.
Hillary Kanter can write and probably had a good editor; however, the fact checking in this book is abysmal. Sadly, some readers won't care, reading it for the man-bashing (and some needed to be bashed) and mild, but fairly well-written love scenes. However, the historical inaccuracies are unforgivable. And what was worse, there didn't seem to be any compelling reason to avoid historical accuracy. Sorry, but we weren't at war when Ariel met Lindbergh in spring, 1939; Beethoven's 2nd premiered in 1803 not 1800; Hemingway was in Paris not Key West in May, 1926; Margaret Mitchell had been married for 14 years and not dumped by a boyfriend the night GWTW was premiered. The inaccuracies went on and on.
Sadly, many of her best lines are really from others in the form of clichés, quotes, and asides. There is a final surprise character late in the story, but again this is a rehashed technique and done better in the hands of more experienced writers. In all, this story has the feeling of being dashed off in a moment of inspiration without the soak time to make it a worthy buy. I should give this book a "2" for all the grief it gave this reader, but the story arc does provide a modicum of growth for Ariel and a message for her to hold on to in the end, though it is weak and somewhat mixed. This is a low-end "3".
Hillary Kanter can write and probably had a good editor; however, the fact checking in this book is abysmal. Sadly, some readers won't care, reading it for the man-bashing (and some needed to be bashed) and mild, but fairly well-written love scenes. However, the historical inaccuracies are unforgivable. And what was worse, there didn't seem to be any compelling reason to avoid historical accuracy. Sorry, but we weren't at war when Ariel met Lindbergh in spring, 1939; Beethoven's 2nd premiered in 1803 not 1800; Hemingway was in Paris not Key West in May, 1926; Margaret Mitchell had been married for 14 years and not dumped by a boyfriend the night GWTW was premiered. The inaccuracies went on and on.
Sadly, many of her best lines are really from others in the form of clichés, quotes, and asides. There is a final surprise character late in the story, but again this is a rehashed technique and done better in the hands of more experienced writers. In all, this story has the feeling of being dashed off in a moment of inspiration without the soak time to make it a worthy buy. I should give this book a "2" for all the grief it gave this reader, but the story arc does provide a modicum of growth for Ariel and a message for her to hold on to in the end, though it is weak and somewhat mixed. This is a low-end "3".
July 8, 2014
didn't finish
May 28, 2021
I would like to go back in time and not download this book. Just let me find my precious rare quartz necklace...
ETA: Wowzers, if I’d seen how the author reacted to another negative review here (which was less negative than mine), I never would have read this thing at all.
ETA: Wowzers, if I’d seen how the author reacted to another negative review here (which was less negative than mine), I never would have read this thing at all.
August 21, 2014
Cute book, makes you think a little bit about wanting to date someone from a different time period. Difficult to get into in the beginning but worth the read if you finish it. Very fulfilling ending. Love the short historical romance stories.
August 24, 2012
Didn't finish
November 4, 2012
I kept hoping it would get better and less predictable at the end... But nope...
November 2, 2012
I'm not reckoning much to this at the minute but im persisting because of its five-star reviews on amazon... and gave it up at 19%. Not my type of thing, not enough detail, everything just happens
September 15, 2014
It was an okay book. Liked the idea of dating someone from a different era. But also would want to make sure I came back to my time. It was short and sweet.
March 20, 2017
Boring
I'm not sure what I think about this book. Great title but not what I expected. Would not reread this.
I'm not sure what I think about this book. Great title but not what I expected. Would not reread this.
Want to read
February 15, 2016like ernest hemingway, has relationships with all the bad boys, time traviling woman, 173pgs, butch cassidy, and others, clark gable, van gogh, beethoven, dracula
October 2, 2012
Different premise and different perspective on historical characters....fun read.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews